In 1992, U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout her tenure, she has worked to improve access to quality health care for all Americans and advocated consistently for greater tax relief for working families. She has been a strong independent voice in defending the freedoms guaranteed to the American people under the U.S. Constitution.

She is the sixth woman to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee in its 213-year history. The Committee reviews 65 percent of the legislation introduced in the House and has primary jurisdiction over bills relating to taxes, Medicare, Social Security, welfare and trade. As a Member of the Health Subcommittee on Ways and Means, her voice is heard on a regular basis speaking up on behalf of the uninsured and seniors on Medicare who need additional benefits, including prescription drug coverage. She has twice offered amendments to lower prescription drug prices and to protect seniors from drug price discrimination and she pledges to continue to do so until the problem is addressed once and for all.

She?s also an advocate for fair tax relief. She supported the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 which has provided middle-income Americans with major tax reductions in the areas of capital gains relief for the sale of a residence, the estate tax, child assistance, education and retirement. More recently, she supported the economic stimulus package in March, which extends unemployment benefits and provides temporary business tax deductions, including an additional first-year depreciation deduction for certain capital assets or property and the extension of the period to "carryback" net operating losses.

Before her appointment to Ways and Means in 1996, Rep. Thurman served on both the House Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.

Her experience and hard work have paid off. She has secured more than $57.8 million to develop alternative water projects in Florida and to address water supply and quality concerns and has worked to protect the state?s scenic waterways by opposing oil drilling off Florida's coast. She led the fight to change federal funding formulas that shortchange Florida's seniors, veterans and poor residents. She wrote the law requiring the federal government to assume financial responsibility for illegal criminal aliens and supported measures to provide millions in necessary construction dollars for Florida?s roads and highways.

Having grown up as the daughter of an Air Force Sergeant, Rep. Thurman is a devoted advocate on behalf of veterans, military retirees and our men and women on active duty. She authored legislation to create a pilot program which led to establishing a prescription drug mail-order pharmacy program for military retirees and their families. The broader legislation also provides permanent lifetime TRICARE eligibility and prescription drug coverage. She sponsored a measure that resulted in a funding allocation change for veterans? health care that has brought an additional $385 million to Florida and southern Georgia since 1997 and enabled the opening of additional community-based outpatient VA medical clinics in the 5th District and the state. These initiatives and many others to help veterans are part of Rep. Thurman?s legislative mission to "keep our promises" to the brave defenders of this great nation.

Rep. Thurman first became involved with local government in her hometown of Dunnellon, Florida. While working as a math teacher at Dunnellon Middle School, she was encouraged by her students to run for a seat on the Dunnellon City Council. She went on to serve seven years on the Council, including two terms as mayor.

As an educator, Rep. Thurman remains committed to providing a quality education to all of America?s school children and is very much aware of the benefits of smaller class sizes, proper school supplies and facilities. She also works to improve lives through higher education by consistently supporting measures to make higher education more accessible and affordable. She often credits her education at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, FL and later at the University of Florida for enabling her to pursue a teaching career and public office. In 1997, to recognize her advocacy on behalf of higher education, the University of Florida named her one of its 47 Most Outstanding Women graduates - a tribute she highly values.

In 1982, she was only 31 years old when she won election to the Florida State Senate. While there, she became the first woman to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee. She also chaired the Senate?s Committee on Professional Regulation and the state Senate Committee on Parimutuel Regulation.

Rep. Thurman was born on January 12, 1951, in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is married to John Thurman with whom she has raised two children, McLin and Liberty Lee, in Dunnellon, Florida.